FIG. 1 is a longitudinal-sectional view of a conventional fully automatic washing machine.
The fully automatic washing machine shown in FIG. 1 comprises a cabinet 2 provided with a door 1 installed on the upper surface thereof, an outer tub 4 supported by a damper 3 inside the cabinet 2, an inner tub 6 rotatably installed inside the outer tub 4 and provided with a plurality of water pores 6a, an actuating unit 8 installed below the outer tub 4 for rotating the inner tub 6, a water supply device 10 for supplying wash water to the outer tub 4 and the inner tub 6, and a drain device 12 for discharging the wash water, supplied to the outer tub 4 and the inner tub 6, to the outside.
Further, a detergent box 14 for storing detergent to be supplied together with the wash water in a washing operation, and a control apparatus 16 for controlling the overall operation of the washing machine are installed in the cabinet 2. Further, a heater (not shown) for heating the wash water supplied to the outer tub 4 and the inner tub 2 is installed in the outer tub 4.
Generally, a washing method of the above-described washing machine sequentially comprises a washing operation for removing dirt from cloth, a rinsing operation for rinsing the cloth with clean wash water, a dehydrating operation for removing moisture from the cloth, and the above operations can be selectively performed according to user's selection.
Hereinafter, the washing method of the washing machine sequentially comprising the washing, rinsing and dehydrating operations will be described.
First, when cloth is put into the inner tub 6 and the washing machine is operated, wash water and detergent are supplied to the outer tub 4 and the inner tub 6, and the inner tub 6 is rotated by the actuating unit 8. Then, the cloth is washed by the chemical action of the detergent, the current of the wash water, and the friction between the cloth and the inner tub 6. Then, the contaminated wash water is discharged to the outside through the drain device 12. Thereby, the washing operation is terminated.
Thereafter, the wash water is supplied again to the outer tub 4 and the inner tub 6, and rinses the cloth placed in the inner tub 6 by the rotation of the inner tub 6, and the contaminated wash water is discharged to the outside through the drain device 12. The above rinsing operation is repeated plural times.
After the rinsing operation is repeated plural times, the inner tub 6 is rotated at a high speed of 1,000˜3,000 rpm for 3 minutes to 5 minutes to dehydrate the cloth by means of centrifugal force. The water obtained by the dehydration of the cloth is discharged to the outside through the drain device 12. Thereby, the dehydrating operation is terminated.
After a process from the washing operation to the dehydrating operation is terminated, the cloth, which is still wet, is taken out of the inner tub 6 and naturally dried.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal-sectional view of a conventional drum washing machine having a drying device 30 for completely drying cloth. Other components of the washing machine of FIG. 2 except for the drying device 30 are similar to those of the fully automatic washing machine of FIG. 1, and thus a detailed description of the components will be omitted and only the drying device 30 will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 2, the drying device 30 includes a drying duct 32 connected to an outer tub 40 for guiding the circulation of air into an inner tub 42, a drying heater 34 for heating the air circulated through the drying duct 32 to generate hot wind, and a drying fan 36 for forcibly supplying the hot wind of the drying duct 32 to the inside of the outer tub 40.
After the dehydrating operation is terminated, the drum washing machine having the above drying device 30 performs a drying operation, in which the cloth in the inner tub 42 is dried using the drying device 30 in a short period of time.
In the washing methods of the above-described conventional washing machines, since the inner tub 6 or 42 is rotated from the beginning at a predetermined high hydration speed in the dehydrating operation so as to remove a large quantity of moisture from the cloth in a short period of time, the cloth is jammed into the water pores 6a of the inner tub 6 or 42 by centrifugal force, and is entangled. Accordingly, when the cloth is naturally dried after the dehydrating operation, it takes a long time and great labor to disentangle the cloth and to separate the cloth into individual pieces. Further, since the cloth is severely wrinkled due to the high-speed centrifugal dehydration, post-treatment, such as ironing after the dehydrating operation, is required.
Since the cloth still contains a large quantity of moisture even after the dehydrating operation and thus must be dried for a long period of time after the cloth is taken out of the washing machine, the drying of the cloth is restricted by weather and time. When the inner tub 6 or 42 is rotated for a long time in the dehydrating operation, the dehydration degree of the cloth is increased, thereby allowing the natural drying time to be decreased but severely damaging the cloth.
As shown in FIG. 2, the drying device 30 serves to conveniently dry the cloth in the washing machine, but increases the production cost of the washing machine. Further, since it takes approximately 2˜3 hours to dry the cloth using the drying device 30, the drying device 30 increases the energy consumption rate. Moreover, since the cloth is dried by hot wind in a closed space inside the washing machine, the cloth has offensive odors and is easily damaged.